Gods on Pluto

You can download this game from zillions website via this link.

https://www.zillions-of-games.com/cgi-bin/zilligames/submissions.cgi?do=show;id=1291

'Gods on Pluto' plays with extremely weak pieces, no pawns, and drops (captured pieces are kept in-hand and may be placed back on the board).

Just over half of the pieces have no backward movement. Though there are pieces that can move backwards, the strongest piece is 'Ramshead-Soldier' (Tai Shogi), which moves like a Bishop, but only in the forward directions.

There are 3 'themes' played out on the 9x9 and 8x8 boards, described as follows.

* 'Flying Snow' - plays with pieces that cannot move backwards.

* 'War on Pluto' - plays with the 'strongest' pieces.

* 'In the Nursery' - plays with the weakest pieces.

Setup

Gods on Pluto has 2 zrf's, 1 each for the 9x9 and 8x8 games.

Mainline games are 'War on Pluto' and 'Flying Snow' on the 9x9 board.

That being said, it is unclear to me which is better, the 9x9 or 8x8.

This is a screenshot of the 8x8 board.

Pieces

Piece Descriptions: In order of strength according to Zillions.

Ramshead-Soldier, Goose, IronGeneral, StoneGeneral and TileGeneral are from ancient Shogi variants.

Xiang and Mao are from Chinese Chess.

The others are pieces i have made up, or pieces that exist somewhere i have never seen :)

Ramshead-Soldier: slides diagonally forward any number of squares

IronGeneral: moves 1 square in the forward directions

TileGeneral: moves 1 square diagonally forward or directly backwards

SoldierHero: slides 1 or 2 squares diagonally forward

Goose: forward alfil, backward dabbaba

Mad-Dabbaba: forward dabbaba or slides 2 squares sideways

StoneGeneral : moves 1 square diagonally forward

Mad-Elephant: forward alfil

Mao: moves 1 square orthogonally + 1 square diagonally outward

DabbabaSlider: moves like a sliding dabbaba

Soldier: slides 2 diagonally forward or non-capture 1 diagonally back

Xiang: slides 2 squares diagonally

StoneDabbaba: slides like dabbaba but only forward or sideways

GooseSlider: forward alfil slide, backward dabbaba slide

StoneElephant: slides 2 squares diagonally forward

Rules

you know the rules :)

Notes

games notes: love ramshead-soldier, is this piece cool or what :)

i had already finished the game, but i had not released, because of all the times i release, and then update etc etc .. when i was just about to release, news went around the world that Pluto was no longer a Planet :))

zillions would place a normal Dabbaba, if it were in this game, as the 3rd most powerful piece

9x9 board is a nice size, play is very good.

8x8 board is pretty good too lol :)

i think zillions under-estimates the mao. with the 8x8, white can maybe 'force' to win an irongeneral with nice mao play from the opening, but this isn't a big deal really, because black will not find it at all difficult to 'drop' the mao to get back this 'exchange'.

'war on pluto' variant does not really play with the strongest pieces .. it just kind of plays with that atmosphere.

'in the nursery' variant does not really have the weakest pieces either lol

'in the nursery' and with the 'gods on pluto' variant was the origin of all games

This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.

By Christine Bagley-Jones.

Last revised by Christine Bagley-Jones.

Web page created: 2006-09-10. Web page last updated: 2006-09-10

Comments

Gods on Pluto. Missing description

💡📝Christine Bagley-Jones wrote on Tue, Oct 10, 2006 12:22 AM EDT:

Charles, you’re a funny guy :) I wasn’t going to say anything, but I can’t
help myself, I must protest this great injustice to Pluto.
You know, there is just something about Pluto, I love that little guy!
And, I don’t care what the scientists say Pluto is, it will always be a
planet to me. Besides, there are scientists that still call Pluto a
planet, so it is ok.
Yes, what an embarrassment for the scientists this year lol, when it
became known to the general mass of people, that they didn’t really have a
clear idea what a planet was!! Interestingly, that didn’t stop them from
naming planet after planet, till we were told we had 8 other planets
around us. 
I am not sure, but I think in 2009, they will meet again, our brilliant
minds, and then, most likely, we will have a new definition of a planet,
and maybe, just maybe, Pluto will be a planet again ha ha. Actually, there
is practically no doubt they will produce a new definition.
Anyway, on the up side, there is a spaceship on it’s way to the outer
reaches, to visit Pluto and beyond, called ‘New Horizons’. 
Home Page –   http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/index.php
Mission page - http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/mission_timeline.html
This could be the fastest spacecraft ever, it reaches Jupiter in early 2007, 
it left Earth Jan 19, 2006!
see here http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/N/New_Horizons.html

Andy wrote on Fri, Sep 15, 2006 12:11 PM EDT:

'Small point on your notes. Pluto is not 'no longer a planet', it is no
longer regarded as a planet. It is instead now regarded as never having
been a planet.'

I think I use this example from now on when asked to define 'pedantic'

Charles Gilman wrote on Fri, Sep 15, 2006 10:20 AM EDT:

Small point on your notes. Pluto is not 'no longer a planet', it is no longer regarded as a planet. It is instead now regarded as never having been a planet.

💡📝Christine Bagley-Jones wrote on Tue, Sep 12, 2006 09:44 AM EDT:

no this page doesn't have a download link, there is another page for that, but there is a problem with uploading files at this site at the moment, so it hasn't been done, but you can download it at zillions site :)

goose wrote on Mon, Sep 11, 2006 09:22 PM EDT:

is there supposed to be a zrf on this page? I don't see it